just like that
by pieces of a shattered dream
Summary: Katherine Beckett and Richard Castle never needed big gestures, great words or long talks and so they didn't see the point in changing that to move forward in their relationship. Because when it is meant to be it will happen just like that./Future/


I'm kind of stuck with my other story ( I just need one connecting chapter between the last one posted and the rest of my story ). But anyway while thinking about ideas that one kind of came to mind and wouldn't go away.

I apologize for there may be some shifts in the used tense. I never was able to write a full story in only one tense (not even in german and that's my mother language). So I hope there aren't any other, greater mistakes and you enjoy reading.

:)

* * *

><p><strong>Just like that<strong>

They are in Kate's living room going over their latest case. He is sitting on one end of the couch, Chinese take-out container in hand, while she is lying on her back, feet resting on his lap. One hand is covering her eyes from the light from the overhead lights, shining directly in her face, while the other is used to re-arrange the cushion under her head. Of course she could change into a sitting position but it was just so damn comfortable where she is right now.

It isn't unusual for them anymore to spend the evenings – and sometimes even nights- at the others apartment, going over cases and then ending in watching a movie or just talking. They had become best friends over the years they were 'working' together and thought she used to be very reserved when it came to her feelings and emotions, she finds herself opening up to him more and more.

Due to some unspoken agreement they had become what they are now; nothing more but also nothing less.

„I bet the brother did it!" Castle suddenly exclaims. Placing his empty food box on the table beside him, his hands come to rest on her legs, tracing light patterns.

„Sounds plausible, except that he's ten!" She is used to his weird theories – how could she not? – but that is something new; even for him.

„Didn't stop Michael Meyers from murdering his family" He states matter-of-factly. He sees her eye-roll somewhere in his field of vision, as he is staring off into space. A few seconds later she realizes he's not 'zoned-out' but he's looking at her DVD collection with a smile and she knows where his sudden fascination for 'Halloween' comes from.

"I'm not really sure why I keep arguing with you right now" she retorts, a little smile tugging at her lips. Before they can continue their discussion however, the doorbell rings.

Rick shoots her a questioning look but she just shrugs her shoulders. It wasn't particularly late, only seven, but she didn't have plans for the night other than enjoying the company Castle provided.

"Lanie?" Kate says upon opening the door. Those surprise visits had decreased when she'd gotten married to Esposito and stopped completely when their daughter had been born.

"I have a favor to ask you …"

"I'll do it, no problem" Kate cut her off.

"You don't even know what I want" Lanie says, a bit surprised. Sure they are best friends and you rarely _not _do a favor for your friends but don't you normally agree after you heard the question?

"You want me to watch Kayla, and I told you, you can bring her over whenever you want." Even before she finishes speaking Lanie throws her in for a hug and presses a kiss to her cheek.

"You are the best friend anyone could ask for. Thank you. She's in the car with Javier I'll go and get her and _you _better tell your writer you'll get company." _Of course Lanie knows he is here, _Kate thinks with a shake of her head when she closes the door to head back into the living-room.

Castle had cleared the room off the take out containers and the crime scene photos while Kate was at the door. He doesn't know who had been at the door but glancing at the clock he figured it is time for some fun and a movie.

"Lanie's bringing Kay over right now. Hope that's alright with you"

"Trading morbid crime scenes for spending some quality time with my favorite 7-year-old? Yea, I sure wouldn't like _that_" Rick replies with just a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

When the doorbell rings again Rick goes and opens the door.

"Hi Lanie, Kayla!" he greets them.

"Rick!" little Kayla squeals and attacks him with a big hug. Then she is off into the apartment in search of Kate.

"Hi Castle" Lanie says eyeing him knowingly. She knows about their close friendship, but sometimes she doesn't really believe that that's all they are. He spending Friday night at her apartment, both wearing not more than some shirt and sweatpants, what means he is definitively going to spend the night. If that isn't some indication to the nature of their 'non-relationship' than what?

"So you're going on a date?" He asks, noticing her attire.

"Javi got last minute reservations for that great new show" Lanie smiles "I'm picking her up when the show is finished. It's going to be five hours at the most."

"Don't worry, take your time. I think we're going to have a lot of fun here tonight" Kate emerges from her bedroom, where she put her gun and the crime files into the safe. Kayla walking in front of her, practically dragging her over to the door.

"Thank you both. You don't even know how grateful I am right now"

"Like I said, it's no problem. Now go, your husband's waiting"

After Lanie said her goodbye to her daughter Rick closes the door and turns around to find Kate walking into the living room, a laughing Kayla on her toes, keeping her up by her hands in Kate's.

"So what do you want to do?" he asks when he walks up to them. He stands behind Kate, chin resting on her shoulder and reaches around her to tickle the seven-year-old until she begs Kate to let go of her hands so she could escape Ricks attack.

"I want cookies" she answers after she catches her breath. "Please?" she adds, looking adorable with her head tilted up just a bit and her eyes big with excitement.

"Alright, let's make cookies" with that Kayla speeds off into the kitchen. "When they are done we can watch a movie and eat them." Kate calls after her, as she extracts herself from Ricks embrace. He hadn't lifted his chin from her shoulder and his arms came around her waist after Kayla successfully managed to get out off his grip.

"You coming or what?" they hear Kayla yell. Laughing Kate shakes her head and then pulls him with her towards the kitchen.

Kayla is waiting on them in the middle of the kitchen by the counter. Her two tiny hands just reach the top of it and she tries to jump up to sit on the counter. Rick then comes up behind her and places her on top of it easily. Kate starts to get the ingredients for the cookies and Castle takes some plastic bowls and spoons out off the kitchen cabinets. Placing everything on the counter next to Kay the two girls start to put the butter, egg and sugar together. Rick is mixing the flour and the backing powder into another bowl before handing it to Kate so she could throw it all together.

"There are some chocolate chips in the cabinet over there" she tells Rick who goes and gets them. Pushing the rest of the ingredients aside Kate pushes herself up onto the counter and hands Rick the two bowls. He takes them and pours all of it into one bowl along with the chocolate chips and starts to stir it into soft dough.

"I wanna taste" Kayla says when he puts the spoon down. He takes one of her hands in his own and dips her index finger into the batter, carefully so she wouldn't eat too much of the uncooked thing. Then he repeats the action with his own finger, taking just a bit more than Kayla had. After all he is older than she is; he _can _eat more of it. At least that's his excuse when she points it out.

"You want to taste, too?" he then asks Kate who had been watching them with amusement.

"Of course" she answers, lifting her hand in the direction of the bowl before changing her mind. Instead she takes her right hand, too and places both of them on the side of his face, leaning down and softly pressing her lips to his.

"I like it" she says when she breaks away. The little spot of cookie dough he had on his lips is gone but she isn't quite sure herself if she is referring to that or the fact that she just kissed him. The awkwardness she expected doesn't follow and he isn't really addressing it either. They both know that this was the trigger they needed to get from where they were to something more – and Kate just pulled it. They know life will go on like it has been before – after all they did look like a couple to everyone around already – with just one little change, well maybe two.

"What do you think, Kay?" Kate turns her attention to the little girl next to her. When she does she can't hold in a laugh. "Well, I believe she likes it, too"

Rick watches Kayla as she licks her index finger clean and starts to move on to the middle finger, which has batter on it. Looking her over entirely Kate and Rick notice that the seven-year-old is almost fully covered in cookie dough. He moves over to her, trying to get her to stop eating the unhealthy raw stuff. But she shakes her head and laughs, and having discovered a new game she puts one of her hands on Rick's face and the other directly on his shirt. The sounds he makes when he feels the sticky stuff running down his neck only encourages her to throw her arms around him and trapping him in a hug, thereby transporting even more of it, onto his shirt.

Kate tries to stifle her laugh but when she witnesses the tight embrace she can't any longer. So after Kayla lets him go he turns around to look at Kate.

"So you think that that's funny?" he asks.

"Yea…pretty much" she says between fits of laughter.

"Well, let's see how funny you'll find it now"

"Oh no, Castle… Don't you dare.." but she doesn't get any further, cause his hands grip her waist and he leans in dangerously close to her face. He then kisses both of her cheeks, and gives her a quick peck on the lips before burying his face into her neck and pressing their chests together for a moment. She lets out a soft squeal when the cold batter meets her skin. When he breaks away she looks exactly like him and Kayla.

She should be angry that he ruined her shirt, she really should (it was her favorite one and no one knew if the mess was going to come out ever again), but the whole situation is just too funny to be mad at anyone. To prevent further damages however she gets up from where she sits and takes Kayla off the counter as well.

"I can give you that shirt I slept in last time I was at yours if you want to change into something clean" she offers.

"That would be great, thank you"

"Alright. I'll get her cleaned up first, thought" attempting to take Kay into the bathroom.

"I'll take care of that mess here meanwhile." She raises up to her tiptoes and kisses him lightly on the cheek to say thank you and then she heads into her bathroom, a laughing 7-year-old trailing behind her.

Castle cleans up the kitchen and covers the cookie dough with a kitchen towel to let it rest. The moment he finishes, a freshly cleaned Kayla dances through the kitchen and into the living room (she must have a stash of clothes here, because she is also dressed in clean clothes). He watches her open the drawer he knows Kate keeps games in and smiles as she takes out her favorite one.

"I told her she should set up the game while we're changing" Kate says from behind him and he turns around. She still wears her ruined shirt and sweatpants. When he just smiles at her for a second or two, she takes his hand, interlaces her fingers with his and pulls him in the direction of her bedroom. She ushers him forward while opening her closet, picking up his shirt and something for her. She then joins him in the adjoining bathroom.

It totally isn't something new for him to be in her bedroom or bathroom. It also isn't unusual for them to be there together (they would save time when they brushed teeth at the same time before sleeping). It often happens that they are even sleeping in the same bed – but no they were definitively NOT dating.

Just like she kissed him before Rick threw the shirt he's wearing over his head, not even one reason crossing his mind why he shouldn't. And just like him, Kate changes in front of him without a second thought. While she had abandoned her shirt, Rick prepared two washcloths and he hands her one. She smiles at him and then starts to wash the drying dough off her face and neck. He does, too and soon they are finished.

"You missed a spot" he says coming up behind her. His arms fall around her waist and he lowers his lips to the soft skin where her neck meets her shoulder. He places a few soft kisses there and Kate leans back into his chest. Then he turns her around and walks her backwards until her hips feel the cold ceramic. His hands come to rest on the edge of the sink on her right and left side. He kisses her softly, his tongue tracing over her lower lip until she grants him entrance. The kiss starts out slow and before they could lose themselves in it, he pulls away.

"We should probably go back out there before Lanie'll kill us later" she says when he removes his hands and pulls on his shirt.

Kayla waits excitedly on them and when the two adults finally re-enter the living room they all sit around the dinner table and play her favorite board game. Of course she wins every game, because she's good and not because Kate and Rick would give the dice an extra push when Kay wasn't looking. After almost two hours of board games Rick announces that he's going to put the cookies into the oven. She lets him go alone because they sure did not need a repeat of what happened earlier. So she stays with Kayla and they engage in another game.

"Is he your boyfriend?" Kayla asks when Rick is out of earshot, leaning conspiratorially across the table.

"Yea, I guess he is" Kate answers.

When Rick comes back a few minutes later they play one last game before placing it back into the drawer. This time Kate excuses herself and goes to take the cookies out of the oven.

Kayla is the first one by the DVD collection and therefore picks out the movie she wants to see. Rick sets the player up in the meantime and after she put the DVD in they both plop down on the couch.

"Kate says you're her boyfriend" she states, not really talking to Rick but somehow too.

"Did she now?" he asks to get her attention back. When he has it he adds "You know what? She's right" That earns a smile form the little girl sitting next to him.

"Who's right?" Kate chooses that exact moment to return with a full bowl of chocolate chip cookies. Kayla immediately jumps up from the couch and hurries over to get it. "Careful, they're not quite cold yet"

"We were just talking about that beautiful and smart girlfriend of mine" Rick answers her question. Then without warning he grabs both her wrists and pulls her onto the couch with him.

"Maybe you should introduce us some day. Then she could meet my handsome writer boyfriend" she says after she had pushed herself in a sitting position again.

"Certainly! So what are we watching?" turning his gaze back to the TV he says "Beauty and the Beast? I didn't know you had such movies. Where did you hide them every time I came over?"

"Kayla has some of her movies over here so she has something to watch whenever she stays over"

"That's right. But that movie is Kate's" Rick just smirks and Kate sends a glare in his direction but can't help but smile.

Rick makes himself comfortable on the couch and Kate cuddles into his side and leans her head against his shoulder. Her back is against the back of the couch, leaving enough room for Kayla to lie before her. And that she does. Her head rests in Ricks lap and her back is against Kate's chest; their legs totally tangled into each others'.

They watch about three quarters of the movie, and have eaten almost half of the cookies, before Kayla falls asleep and after about another ten minutes they hear someone knocking on the front door. Because she knows who is there and because it is way too comfortable to get up now she calls out that the door's open and a minute later Lanie appears in the room.

"Hi."

"Hi. She fell asleep about ten minutes ago so I think she'll be out for a while" Kate greets her friend.

"You know, maybe I should just let her sleep here. Didn't want to destroy that cute little family picture" Lanie says with a smile all the while coming over to get her daughter. Kate carefully entangles her legs from Kayla's and lets Lanie pick her up.

"Why don't you walk Lanie to the door while I clean this up here?" he suggests, knowing she might need a few moments alone with her best friend. Gladly taking him up on his offer she kisses him softly before getting up. They could picture Lanie's face even without actually seeing it.

"Night Castle"

"Night Lanie"

"How did this happen?" Lanie asks when they reach the front door.

"It just did" Kate replies. Lanie shoots her a look but, for once, doesn't comment further.

"Again, I'm so grateful."

"Stop it Lanie. You know I love your daughter and you can count on me whenever you need someone to look after her. Besides I should be thanking _you_."

"Because…?"

"We all knew things needed to change, hell we were in the middle of said change but neither of us had the courage to step over that imaginary line we never even consciously drew. We knew someone needed to do the first step some day and having fun tonight, while watching Kayla together kind of did the trick" Kate isn't sure if she's making any sense at all but judging by the look on Lanie's face she must have.

"I'm just happy for you, honey"

"Thank you, Lanie" They say their goodbyes and Kate watches them down the hall before closing the door.

"So what do you want to do now?"

"Oh, I do have some things in mind" he says, pulling her down onto his lap and wrapping his arms around her. She smiles while she leans down to kiss him.

Katherine Beckett and Richard Castle never needed big gestures, great words or long talks and so they didn't see the point in changing that to move forward in their relationship. Because when it is meant to be it will happen just like that.

_***falling in love with a vampire* *falling in love with a vampire***_


End file.
